How to promote music on YouTube: a step-by-step guide
YouTube is where people watch the music video, find the lyric video and run into your song in Shorts. This guide puts the tools YouTube gives artists in order, with the rules from YouTube’s own help pages.
Set up the channel: one Official Artist Channel
If your songs are spread across a personal channel, a band channel and the automatic «Topic» channel your distributor creates, YouTube splits your subscribers and views. An Official Artist Channel joins them into one channel and gives you artist tools, including Analytics for Artists.
What YouTube asks for (help page read on 15/10/2026):
| Requirement | What it means |
|---|---|
| One channel | A single channel for your music as an artist or band |
| An official release | At least one release on YouTube delivered by a music distributor or label |
| Policies | The channel follows the Community Guidelines, Terms of Service and copyright policies |
| A partner link | One of: a YouTube Partner Manager, the YouTube Partner Program, a label network, or a distributor listed in YouTube’s directory of music partners |
| A public video | Recommended: at least one public video besides the official release |
You don’t apply yourself: your distributor or label sends the request.
Before release: the watch page and the Premiere
A Premiere publishes the watch page before the video starts. Fans can open it, set a reminder and talk in the chat; at the scheduled time a countdown runs and everyone watches together. That gives you one link to share for days instead of «out Friday».
- Schedule it at least a few days ahead and put the link in your bio, stories and pre-save posts (the full song campaign).
- You can add a trailer that plays on the watch page before the start. A 15–30 second teaser works (teaser ideas).
- Limits from YouTube’s help page: Shorts can’t be premiered, and 360°, VR180 or outputs above 1080p aren’t supported.
Release day: the long video
The long video is what every Short and post points to. Before it goes live:
- Title: «Artist – Song (Official Music Video)» or «(Official Lyric Video)». People search for the song name; put it first.
- Description: the first two lines with the streaming link and the credits, then the lyrics. The lyrics help people who search for a line of the song.
- Thumbnail: the artist’s face or the cover, readable at phone size.
- If the music video isn’t ready, release a lyric video or a visualizer first (lyric video types, how to make a visualizer).
Shorts that send people to the video
Shorts are where strangers find the song. YouTube allows Shorts up to three minutes in square or vertical format, but for music the hook in 15–45 seconds usually works best (hook ideas).
Two features connect a Short to the full video:
- Related video: in YouTube Studio you can attach one of your videos to a Short; it shows as a link under the channel name. YouTube requires advanced feature access for this.
- Shorts made from your own video: Shorts created with YouTube Studio’s clip tool, or with «Remix → Edit into a Short» on a public long video, link back to the source automatically.
Aim for four to eight Shorts per song: the hook, the chorus, the first line, a striking shot, a live take and the story behind it (how to turn a music video into Shorts). Sizes and safe zones are in the video size guide.
Tip: paste the music video link in YouTube to Shorts and TONTRIA picks the moments, reframes them to vertical following the artist and adds captions. You review and post.
End screens, chapters and playlists
- End screens can run in the last 5–20 seconds of a video that is at least 25 seconds long, with up to four elements on a 16:9 video. Point to the next video you want watched: the lyric video, the live version or the previous single.
- Chapters work for longer videos (live sessions, interviews, an EP played in full): list at least three timestamps in the description, in order, starting at 00:00, each at least 10 seconds long.
- Playlists keep people watching: one per release (video, lyric video, live, Shorts) and one with all your music videos.
A 4-week YouTube plan for one song
| When | On YouTube | Shorts |
|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks before | Schedule the Premiere with a trailer; share the watch page | 2 teasers with the hook |
| Release week | The Premiere; pin a comment with the streaming link | 2–3 Shorts linked to the video |
| Week 2 | Lyric video or visualizer | 2 Shorts: chorus and a lyric line |
| Weeks 3–4 | Live or acoustic version; end screens to the music video | 2–3 Shorts: live take, story behind the song |
For a whole album or EP, repeat it per focus track (how to promote an album or EP).
What to measure
In YouTube Studio, look at which Shorts sent people to the full video, which end-screen element got clicks and where viewers stop watching the long video. Keep the Shorts format that brought viewers and make more of it for the next song. The music marketing plan helps you set a pace you can keep.
Sources
checked October 16, 2026